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David Hume

David Hume Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous David Hume Quotes

“Morals excite passions, and produce or prevent actions. Reason of itself is utterly impotent in this particular. The rules of morality, therefore, are not conclusions of our reason.”

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Book:A Treatise on Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning Into Moral Subjects; and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
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“THERE is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavour the refutation of any hypothesis, by a pretence of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality. When any opinion leads to absurdities, it is certainly false; but it is not certain that an opinion is false, because it is of dangerous consequence. Such topics, therefore, ought entirely to be forborne; as serving nothing to the discovery of truth, but only to make the person of an antagonist odious.”

PersonsCertainCommonOpinionDangerousOughtMoralityDiscoveryConsequencePhilosophicalMethodReasoningServingAbsurdityTopicsHypothesisDisputesEndeavourPretenceAntagonistRefutation
Book:Essays Moral, Political, and Literary
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“The proper office of religion is to regulate the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the spirit of temperance, order, andobedience; and as its operation is silent, and only enforces the motives of morality and justice, it is in danger of being overlooked, and confounded with these other motives.”

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Book:Dialogues and Natural History of Religion
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“How could politics be a science, if laws and forms of government had not a uniform influence upon society? Where would be the foundation of morals, if particular characters had no certain or determinate power to produce particular sentiments, and if these sentiments had no constant operation on actions?”

IfsCharacterGovernmentWould BeActionFormLawPoliticalCertainMoralInfluenceProduceParticularMoralityEthicsFoundationConstantOperationsSentimentsUniformsForms Of Government
Book:Essays Moral, Political, and Literary
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“It seems then, say I, that you leave politics entirely out of the question, and never suppose, that a wise magistrate can justly be jealous of certain tenets of philosophy, such as those of Epicurus, which, denying a divine existence, and consequently a providence and a future state, seem to loosen, in a great measure, the ties of morality, and may be supposed, for that reason, pernicious to the peace of civil society.”

MayStatesReasonPhilosophySeemsPoliticalCertainExistenceWiseDivineMoralityEthicsTiesJealousProvidenceCivil SocietyPerniciousMagistratesBeing Jealous
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: A Critical Edition
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“From the apparent usefulness of the social virtues, it has readily been inferred by sceptics, both ancient and modern, that all moral distinctions arise from education, and were, at first, invented, and afterwards encouraged ... in order to render men tractable, and subdue their natural ferocity and selfishness, which incapacitated them for society.”

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Book:An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“There has been a controversy started of late, much better worth examination, concerning the general foundation of Morals; whether they be derived from Reason, or from Sentiment; whether we attain the knowledge of them by a chain of argument and induction, or by an immediate feeling and finer internal sense; whether, like all sound judgement of truth and falsehood, they should be the same to every rational intelligent being; or whether, like the perception of beauty and deformity, they be founded entirely on the particular fabric and constitution of the human species.”

ShouldHumansHas BeensReasonFeelingsSoundMoralParticularMoralityLatePerceptionEthicsArgumentConstitutionIntelligentFoundationSpeciesRationalChainsJudgementInternalsSentimentsFalsehoodFabricControversyExaminationHuman SpeciesDeformityTruth And FalsehoodPerception Of BeautySound Judgement
Author:David Hume
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“Truth is disputable; not taste: what exists in the nature of things is the standard of our judgement; what each man feels within himself is the standard of sentiment. Propositions in geometry may be proved, systems in physics may be controverted; but the harmony of verse, the tenderness of passion, the brilliancy of wit, must give immediate pleasure. No man reasons concerning another's beauty; but frequently concerning the justice or injustice of his actions.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Revision of Great Book
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“These arguments on each side (and many more might be produced) are so plausible, that I am apt to suspect, they may, the one as well as the other, be solid and satisfactory, and that reason and sentiment concur in almost all moral determinations and conclusions.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“.. that which renders morality an active principle and constitutes virtue our happiness, and vice our misery: it is probable, I say, that this final sentence depends on some internal sense or feeling, which nature has made universal in the whole species.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: A Critical Edition
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“But in many orders of beauty, particularly those of the finer arts, it is requisite to employ much reasoning, in order to feel the proper sentiment; and a false relish may frequently be corrected by argument and reflection. There are just grounds to conclude, that moral beauty partakes of this latter species, and demands the assistance of our intellectual faculties, in order to give it a suitable influence on the human mind.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be amply insisted on, namely, the happiness and satisfaction, derived to society from his intercourse and good offices.”

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Book:And the human understanding. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. Appendix. The natural history of religion
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“In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the questions cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind. If any false opinion, embraced from appearances, has been found to prevail; as soon as farther experience and sounder reasoning have given us juster notions of human affairs, we retract our first sentiment, and adjust anew the boundaries of moral good and evil.”

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Book:Moral and Political Philosophy
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“He sees such a desperate rapaciousness prevail; such a disregard to equity, such contempt of order, such stupid blindness to future consequences, as must immediately have the most tragical conclusion, and most terminate in destruction to the greater number, and in a total dissolution of society to the rest.”

OrderNumbersGreaterStupidMoralityEthicsConsequenceDestructionConclusionDesperateContemptBlindnessEquityDisregardDissolution
Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“But, historians, and even common sense, may inform us, that, however specious these ideas of perfect equality may seem, they are really, at bottom, impracticable; and were they not so, would be extremely pernicious to human society. Render possessions ever so equal, men's different degrees of art, care, and industry will immediately break that equality. Or if you check these virtues, you reduce society to the most extreme indigence; and instead of preventing want and beggary in a few, render it unavoidable to the whole community.”

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Book:Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects
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“We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation of man; must reject appearances, which may be false, though specious; and must search for those rules, which are, on the whole, most useful and beneficial.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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